Question

Just beginning with python and know enough to know I know nothing. I would like to find alternative ways of splitting a list into a list of dicts. Example list:

data = ['ID:0:0:0',
        'Status:Ok',
        'Name:PhysicalDisk0:0:0',
        'State:Online',
        'FailurePredicted:No',
        'ID:0:0:1',
        'Status:Ok',
        'Name:PhysicalDisk0:0:1',
        'State:Online',
        'FailurePredicted:No']

Finished list of dicts:

[{'Status': 'Ok',
  'State': 'Online',
  'ID': '0:0:0',
  'FailurePredicted': 'No',
  'Name': 'PhysicalDisk0:0:0'},
 {'Status': 'Ok',
  'State': 'Online',
  'ID': '0:0:1',
  'Name': 'PhysicalDisk0:0:1',
  'FailurePredicted': 'No'}]

The list has repeating elements that require multiple dicts and the list varies in length. My code seems like it could be simplified, if only I knew Python better. My current code:

DELETED CODE It didn’t work. 🙁

----------- File output as requested -------------------

# omreport storage pdisk controller=0
List of Physical Disks on Controller PERC 5/i Integrated (Embedded)

Controller PERC 5/i Integrated (Embedded)
ID                        : 0:0:0
Status                    : Ok
Name                      : Physical Disk 0:0:0
State                     : Online
Failure Predicted         : No
Progress                  : Not Applicable
Type                      : SAS
Capacity                  : 136.13 GB (146163105792 bytes)
Used RAID Disk Space      : 136.13 GB (146163105792 bytes)
Available RAID Disk Space : 0.00 GB (0 bytes)
Hot Spare                 : No
Vendor ID                 : DELL    
Product ID                : ST3146755SS     
Revision                  : T107
Serial No.                : 3LN1EF0G            
Negotiated Speed          : Not Available
Capable Speed             : Not Available
Manufacture Day           : 07
Manufacture Week          : 24
Manufacture Year          : 2005
SAS Address               : 5000C50004731C35

ID                        : 0:0:1
Status                    : Ok
Name                      : Physical Disk 0:0:1
State                     : Online
Failure Predicted         : No
Progress                  : Not Applicable
Type                      : SAS
Capacity                  : 136.13 GB (146163105792 bytes)
Used RAID Disk Space      : 136.13 GB (146163105792 bytes)
Available RAID Disk Space : 0.00 GB (0 bytes)
Hot Spare                 : No
Vendor ID                 : DELL    
Product ID                : ST3146755SS     
Revision                  : T107
Serial No.                : 3LN1EF88            
Negotiated Speed          : Not Available
Capable Speed             : Not Available
Manufacture Day           : 07
Manufacture Week          : 24
Manufacture Year          : 2005
SAS Address               : 5000C500047320B9

Answer 1

result = [{}]
for item in data:
    key, val = item.split(":", 1)
    if key in result[-1]:
        result.append({})
    result[-1][key] = val